Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1887-07-06
REAL DRAMATIC CRITICISM.
Bill Nye Attempts in His Feeble WAY to
Criticise Arizona Joe.
FRO, no NoIry Vnr

! play that Is very much fraught with
| thrill. The scene is laid in Arizona
and New Mexico at g. time when the
country was new and the song of the
six-shooter was heard in the land.
The Black Hawks, from whom the
| play derives its name, seem to be
precarious livelihood by Selling wo-
man every little while who insists on
strolling across the plains dressed in q,
! plug hat with g veil tied around it.
| She is also victim to the blue fan
mel riding habit. These robbers who
are really white men from Fort Lee,
seize their victim by the wrists and In
hoarse accents tell her to prepare to
meet herfate. But she does not want
to do so without an opportunity to
change her dress. She asks them to
spare her if they ever had g.
mother, and is doing up her
hair preparatory to meeting her
| doom, Arizona Joe bursts forth, &C
companied by his long hair, and kills
all OF them except the lady. He then
rescues her and takes her away to his
cabin, where she is perfectly safe. and
there is no scandal connected with it,
for Arizona Joe is man who has had
q mother, and, although he frequent
ly kills people, q woman is just as safe
in his cabin as she would be in her own
home. Arizona Joe makes q q spe-
cialty of preserving and rescuing. He
has all he can do, and by the time he
can bury his dead and change his
clothes there is something else on the
trail who desires to berescued.
Arizona Joe is not q large man, but
is noted for his long and talented
hair, which parts at the back and
shows how his head is fastened on.
He has wonderful wealth of hair,
and would have made a very good
Sutherland sister if he had given his
attention to it earlier in life.
The plot of the play seems to be to
afford Arizona Joe every possible IA
Cllity for Strengthening supes, and pre-
serving the lives OF young women who
are iii the habit Of crossing the plains
IN croquet slippers. And yet it is to
be regretted that so many Of these
supes who really have not tried to
act at all, should be killed that way,
while those who really take q part in
the play, and who thereby arouse the
indignation of the audience, should be
spared.
Arizona Joe changes his hat when
ever he successfully kills anybody. 1t
is also noticeable that he wears a red
tie when he is in the slaughter bushes
and green tie when he rescues a young
woman who is going through the hos
tile country without an escort. At
one point in the play where A. J. has
rescued young woman and taken
her to his cabin, where she had been
for three or our weeks waiting for her
parents to come on from Atchison,
noticed that she and Joe had in the con-
fusion attendant on the rescue and pre-
sorvation traded neckties with each
other, but | do not think that should
be used against them.
Four dogs, a pearl-gray jaekass, and
g. hollow stump also take part in the
play. At one point dog comes in
bringing birthmark in his mouth,
when Arizona j oe at once jumps at the
conclusion that there is some human
being near by. Long life on the border
has taught him that birthmark is
one OF the very best evidences that
some one is not far away. So, with g.
quick, Waterbury movement, he
dashes out and finds a. covey OF peo-
pie who are crossing the plains
without his consent. He kills
them, changes his necktie so that he
will not be recognized, and goes home
by p circuitous route. Along at this
point in the play variety Irishman
and an impossible negro come out and
sing a topical song of the time of
Queen Anne. The song is not SO bad
as have heard, but it was difficult to
Judge it as the people who were going
out at the time drowned the music
with their heavy footprints.
Looking at Arizona Joelast evening
in his strange wild beauty one could
hardly help admiring him. for with all
his poverty, beauty, and temptation
to lead g. life OF shame, he does rot
yield, but goes bravely on earning q
precarious livelihood by killing dis
,, agreeable people with whom he comes
in contact. He never murmurs over
his lot, and no ear ever hears him
complain, unless it be the frontier.
AS q Mexican hairless humorIst he
would not succeed, but in his great
role as q preserver of stage coaches,
he does well. [ would suggest to any
one contemplating q trip across New
Mexico or Arizona by Tantivy coach,
that they cannot get their rescuing
. done with less delay or annoyance
than by giving their orders to Arizona
Joe.
The costumes used in this play are
mostly OF the present century, and are
quite realistic, though the whiskers
used by some of old Caulifower's band
are not a good fit for those wear them.
One man especially wears q beard
which is too tight for him and pulls
his ears down too low, besides saving
the under side of his nose and giving
his voice rich nasal twang. A stage
beard in hot weather should also have
hole cut in it for the mouth, not on
!, ly to give it a tinge of rea ism, but in
order to afford air to the man who
s wears it.
Without wishing to criticise the play,
would say that it would be more re-
alistic with less conversation and more